Category: Family Recipes

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Hungarian Stuffed Peppers

The filling portion has actually been pulled OUT of the pepper here.
The filling portion has actually been pulled OUT of the pepper here.

My Mom, Ann Barczay Sloan, shared this recipe with me.

Ingredients:

  • 6 bell peppers (green, red, a mix, all OK)
  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1/4 tsp. pepper
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1-1/2 tsp. paprika
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 5 tblsp. cooked rice
  • 3 tblsp. tomato sauce added to meat
  • 1 can tomato sauce (minus the 3 tblsp. used above)
  • 2 tsp. sugar (for sauce)
  • 1 tsp. paprika (for sauce)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the ground beef, pepper, salt, paprika, garlic powder, cooked rice and 3 tblsp. of tomato sauce in a mixing bowl. Cut the tops off of the pepper and clean out seeds and extra veins of white material to maximize the available room for stuffing.

Stuff all of your peppers and place in a baking dish.

In a sauce pan on the stove pour remaining tomato sauce, sugar and paprika and heat until very hot/steaming and then ladle or pour over the peppers carefully so that they are uniformly covered/coated.

About 15 minutes into the 30 minutes cooking time you can open the oven and baste the peppers using the sauce (see photo below) that’s forming around them. Actually you could baste as many times as you’d like and they’ll probably be even more delicious. These are done when the peppers are soft but still hold together.

NOTES: this can be served with boiled potatoes, the sauce goes great with them.

hungarian-stuffed-peppers-basting

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Currant Cookies

Can’t claim this as original, it comes from the Sunmaid site, but I love them just the same!

These buttery-sweet sugar cookies are an old-fashioned treat. Toast the pecans for an extra nutty flavor; add lemon zest for a citrus note.

Ingredients

  • 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup Sun-Maid Zante Currants
  • 1 cup toasted chopped pecans
  • Zest of one lemon (optional)

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 350º F.

BEAT butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well.

STIR together flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Gradually beat into butter mixture until well blended.

ADD currants, pecans and zest if using. Mix well.

DROP by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on a lightly buttered or parchment lined baking sheet.

BAKE 12-14 minutes until golden brown on edges. Remove with a spatula to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 3 dozen.

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El Toro Bravo-style Roast Chicken

this is the chicken with the spice mix brushed on, on our vertical roaster the better to simulate the rotisserie at Toro Bravo

This is my experimental attempt to duplicate the recipe of my favorite Mexican-style roast chicken restaurant El Toro Bravo on 19th Street in Costa Mesa.

Latest ingredient list as of 2.3.13:

  • juice of one medium lemon, seeds removed
  • 2 tsp. ground garlic
  • 1 tsp. ground oregano
  • 2 tsp. pasilla chile powder
  • 1 tsp. paprika
  • 3 tsp. Chef Merito Sazonador para Carne
  • 1 tsp. salt

I brushed this on one large chicken and put it in at 350 degrees.

This is the spice paste/sauce that results from mixing all the ingredients.

Completed Chicken

My second attempt. Looking and tasting good. I feel like I need at minimum 3 attempts to get a recipe down.
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Daily Grill Turkey Meatloaf – made Healthy by Joy

Preheat Oven to 350° Loaf 1 hour, Mini Loafs 45 minutes 6 Servings

  • ½ cup onion, diced
  • ½ cup celery, diced
  • ½ cup carrots, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 lbs. lean ground turkey, lean ground beef, or ½ turkey & ½ buffalo
  • Organic turkey and beef are preferable, buffalo is always organic.
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup Ezekiel toasted bread crumbs, or Genesis
  • (or 1 cup spinach, chopped, steamed, & drained)
  • 2 Tbsp. tomato puree
  • 1 tsp. Celtic salt
  • ¼ tsp. black pepper, or to taste
  • 3 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
  • ½ tsp. (1 tsp.) paprika
  • ½ tsp. (2 tsp.) fennel seeds, ground
  • 1 Tbsp. (2 Tbsp.) Worcestershire sauce

Optional:

  • 2 Tbsp. toasted seseme seeds, ground
  • 2 Tbsp. flax Seeds, ground

In a coffee grinder, I grind: fennel seeds, seseme seeds, and flax seeds together.

In a large bowl mix vegetables with the meat, and bread crumbs. Add everything together: Best mixed together in blender: eggs, tomato puree, salt, pepper, mustard, paprika, fennel, (other seeds if adding),

Worcestershire sauce. I put on gloves and mix it by hand, much easier to get a good mixture than with a spoon.

Pack into an 8”-9” Loaf pan, or 3-4 mini loaf pans. Great for putting into freezer for future meals.

Serve with tomato sauce, or organic pasta sauce, heated.

6 servings, each contain about: 300 calories, or less, 10 gm. fat,12 gm. carbohydrate, 36 gm. protein, 2 gm. fiber.

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Valerie’s Fabulous Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

16 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 sticks butter, room temp
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract

  1. Melt chocolate chips and let stand until cooled but not firm (2-3 hours)
  2. In large mixing bowl, cream butter with electric mixer on medium for 5 mins until creamy and light-colored.
  3. Add the sugar in 3 parts mixing on medium speed for 3 mins after each addition.
  4. Add the cooled, melted chocolate in 3 parts mixing in the same way.
  5. Mix in the vanilla extract.
  6. Frost your cake and enjoy! (After sampling, of course … just to make sure it’s edible.)
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Eggless Mayan Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour cake pans.

Wisk together:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 6 Tbsp baking cocoa
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 3/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Add then mix with electric mixer on medium speed for 3 mins:

  • 2 cups water
  • 2/3 cup canola oil
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. white vinegar

Pour immediately into prepared cake pans and bake:

  • 2 8×2″ round cake pans – 30-40 mins
  • 3 8×1.5″ round cake pans – 25-35 mins
  • 18 cupcakes – 25-30 mins

Frost with Valerie’s Amazing Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

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Indian Spice Rub for Chicken

Click for larger image!

1-1/2 lbs. fresh chicken, rinsed and dried
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon sugar

  • I wash and dry the chicken so that it is room temperature and the skin is not too wet.
  • I double the recipe because we almost always make more chicken for future meals and it reheats very nicely
  • ***Note: original recipe calls for 1 tsp. cayenne. That amount of cayenne/chili will be WAY TOO MUCH. I use a solid 1/4 tsp. when I double the recipe and DJ can still eat it and he is only just getting used to spicy food.
  • I add a small amount of sugar, like half the amount of a single spice so if you’re double the recipe I would add 1 tsp. of sugar. It makes the spice rub become a little like a glaze and its not too sweet.
  • I start the oven at 400 degrees and then at 20 minutes I turn it down to 350 for the last 10 minutes. I don’t know what I’m doing, actually, but I tell myself that I’m, at first, searing/sealing in the juices and, secondly, then not drying it out by cooking too long.
  • We like to use this recipe on chicken wings: they are cheap and yummy. Enjoy yourselves!

The original recipe/instructions came from here: http://www.indiasnacks.com/recipe/811/Tandoori-Spice-Rub.php

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Transylvanian Goulash or Szekely Gulyas

1” chunks of pork shoulder
brown in bacon fat a few at a time so that they fry and not steam
place cooked pieces in another dish
saute onions, bell peppers, add garlic last
add the meat back in, cover with paprika
add a can of sauerkraut with half the liquid drained out
add ½” of water to bottom of the pan
add 2 bay leaves, pepper corns, pinch caraway (not too much) and dill weed and salt
simmer, place in oven at 350 degrees until meat is tender then it is done
serve with boiled potatoes and a dash of sour cream